Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays

Christmas is always a mixed bag for me.

On the one hand, the holidays are a great time. Everything is so festive. There are lights everywhere. There’s the anticipation of gifts. People tend to be in great moods. There is excitement in the air. And you can almost feel the good will.

On the other hand, this time of year makes me realize just how defective we are as a species. This is the one time of year when everyone knows right from wrong. We know how we should act. We know that being kind and charitable and forgiving makes the world better. We like the idea of bringing joy to others. It is a time of year when family feuds are forgotten, old friends are remembered and we all spend a few moments to think about things greater than what happened at work today or what that dipstick did in Washington. BUT. . .

. . . BUT what this really highlights is how poor we are as people the rest of the year. We KNOW how to do it right because we do it right for a couple weeks each December. We even promise ourselves that we will keep doing it right throughout the year. . . from now. Yet, within days of Christmas, we are back to the way we were. We are complaining about the boss or the coworkers, the spouse, the kids, the neighbors, the jerks in Washington. We have no desire to help our fellow man and we stop thinking about being selfless and we become self-centered.

So why are we like this? We KNOW that being this way year round will make us happier, even if we’re the only ones doing this. We KNOW that if everyone acted this way year round, the world would be an infinitely better place. Yet, we don’t act this way year round. Maybe, when people talk about the meaning of life, what we are missing is right there in front of us. Maybe the meaning of life is to find a way to become the people we know we want to be? That would be fitting wouldn’t it, for the answer to the question everyone wants to know to be hidden right there, in plain site, already known to each of us?

Think about it.

Maybe this year, you should give the real gift of happiness and become the person you always aspired to be?

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, everyone. Thanks for reading and participating and just being such a great e-family. I wish you all happiness and peace in the coming year.